


Five Times Cordy Didn't Babysit Dawn

by snowpuppies



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-21
Updated: 2010-03-21
Packaged: 2017-10-08 05:00:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/72951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowpuppies/pseuds/snowpuppies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cordelia never babysat Dawn, but if she did...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Times Cordy Didn't Babysit Dawn

  
  
\- banner by [](http://amyxaphania.livejournal.com/profile)[**amyxaphania**](http://amyxaphania.livejournal.com/)   


  


** Five Times Cordy Didn't Babysit Dawn **

  
**i.**

"I'm telling Mom." Dawn scowls, eyes focused on her feet as she stamps after Buffy angrily, pink Hello Kitty flip-flops slapping loudly against the sidewalk.

Ahead, Buffy rolls her eyes and keeps walking. "Whatever."

"I can't believe you're leaving me with _Cordy_."

Buffy halts and turns, fists pressed into the curve of her waist. "Dawn, you've never met Cordelia."

"So? I've heard you talking about her. You don't even like her. But you're just gonna...dump me off on her so you can go make out with your vampire boyfriend."

"Vampire?" Buffy's eyes widen. "Dawn, I don't know what—"

"_Please_. I'm not stupid." Sighing, Dawn rolls her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest and tossing her hair over her shoulder. "Are we going or not?"

Buffy glowers, grabbing Dawn's arm and dragging her towards a _huge_ house with a shiny car in the driveway. "If you even _think_ about telling Mom..."

"You'll what?" She smirks, knowing she holds all the cards, and yeah, most of the time, being the little sister sucks, but sometimes...life is _good_.

Her attention is drawn away when the door swings open and a girl with shiny, bouncy hair appears. She tunes out the conversation between the two girls as she catches a glimpse of Cordy's feet.

_Whoa._

She looks up at Cordy, wide-eyed.

"Nice shoes."

Cordy grins, wrinkling her nose and doing an excited little dance.

"Aren't they?"

Grinning, she follows Cordy into the house and doesn't notice when Buffy leaves.

**ii.**

"Now go like _this_," Cordy says, demonstrating the slightly open-mouthed almost-pout she'd developed in the seventh grade as the _perfect_ method for applying lipstick.

Dawn nods and copies the gesture eagerly, holding perfectly still as Cordelia dabs the applicator against her lips.

She's not stupid—she's seen Buffy do this thousands of time and Mom, like, zillions—but there's something so exciting about wearing lipstick for the _first_ time—not little girl flavored chapstick, but real, honest-to-God _lipstick_—and frantic butterflies zoom around in her stomach and she struggles to sit still while Cordy finishes filling in the gaps.

Satisfied, Cordelia sits back, idly twisting the top of the lipstick on as she surveys her work. The tube goes into the drawer and a mirror comes out with a flourish and a million-dollar Cordy grin.

"You like?"

Dawn blinks at the girl in the mirror; it's the same collection of features she's seen for years, the same overly-large blue eyes, same stick-straight hair, same too-big nose and pointy chin, but somehow, all the features begin to blend together into something new and wonderful, and she doesn't see Mom's pumpkin-belly, or Buffy's tag-a-long little sister...

...she sees _Dawn_.

She snaps out of her trance when Cordy scoots over, squeezing in close, cheek pressed against cheek, so two faces are in the mirror. Dawn smiles, lips painted red stretching across her face.

Cordy's grin answers and she bumps their shoulders together.

"Perfect."

**iii.**

"She should have been here by now." Dawn's attention, which for the majority of the evening had been riveted on Cordelia as she read quizzes from Seventeen Magazine out loud, has slowly been drawn towards the front entry of Cordy's house, where there was a noticeable absence of Buffy.

Cordy's smile is weird, not as bright as usual, like she's nervous or something. She scoffs, though, flipping a page in her magazine before remarking, "Sucking face with Mr. Tall, Dark and Blood-sucking, probably."

Dawn sighs, slumping into the soft, cushy couch, fingers idly tangling in the tasseled corners of the pillow under her arm. "Yeah. Probably."

She glances at the door again, chewing her lip as the clock ticks the minutes away.

With a disgusted grunt, Cordy tosses her magazine onto the pile of shiny faces on the coffee table and stands. She makes her way over to the end table and plucks the cordless phone from its base before returning to sit next to Dawn.

"How about I call your mom? If you want, I could loan you some pj's and we could have a slumber party."

"Really?" Dawn brightens, her earlier worry doused by the prospect of an all-night sleepover with _Cordy_, of all people.

"Yeah. I think we've got some Ben &amp; Jerry's in the fridge and we can watch movies all night if you want."

She grins—"Please?"—bouncing a little as Cordy begins to dial.

**iv.**

She frowns as they pull up to a one-story house, crumbling-bricked and patchy-lawned, eyes cutting over towards Cordy, who's clutching the steering wheel like she's angry. Dawn's sure she must have gotten confused, because this isn't Cordy's house.

But Cordy kills the engine, sighing heavily and opening the door.

Dawn cocks her head in bafflement as Cordelia crawls out and stands, straightening her skirt before leaning down to look at her.

"Are you getting out or not?"

Blinking, she scrambles to undo her seat belt, slipping out of the car and trotting around to meet Cordy on the cracked sidewalk. She falls into step as Cordy walks towards the house.

"Not a _word_ to your sister about this." Cordy growls beneath her breath and when Dawn looks up, her eyebrow is arched demandingly, dark eyes fixed on Dawn's face.

Suddenly, she understands, and looks back at the house with a critical eye. It feels wrong, somehow, that _this_ is where Cordy lives now.

Biting her lip, she looks up and nods.

"Good." Cordy turns her gaze towards the front door, where faded red paint has bubbled and cracked under the California sun. "Because I'd hate to have to chop off all that lovely hair of yours one night while you're sleeping."

Dawn gulps and follows Cordy into the house.

**v.**

"So Angel's human again," she remarks, glancing around Cordy's office—and how cool is it that Cordy has an office? Buffy only has a stinky little dorm room with coffee stains on the carpet.

"Yeah. Weird, huh?" Cordy plunks a glass of soda down on the table in front of her and she takes a sip.

"That happen a lot around here?"

"You wouldn't think..." Cordy trails off, before shrugging. "Not the human thing, exactly, but hey, it's L.A."

"Yeah." Dawn nods, although the only things she remembers from living here before are Timmy Levinthal dumping his carton of milk over her head in the cafeteria in the second grade and her mom and dad's angry voices as they fought about her...about _Buffy_.

"It's so cool that you're here, even though you have to work with lame-o Angel."

Cordy shrugs. "He's not so bad."

Dawn tilts her head, considering. "Maybe. But I still have to think he's lame." She smiles apologetically and Cordy's expression softens.

"Yeah. I guess you do."

They sit for a moment, the silence between them comfortable and warm.

"So, you don't really need a babysitter anymore."

"_Thank you_," Dawn grouses. "It's about time _someone_ noticed."

Cordelia just smiles, her eyes lighting up hopefully as she asks: "You wanna go shopping?"

"Do vampires toast in the sun?" Dawn grins back.

Jumping off her perch on the desk, Cordy squeals. "I'll get Angel's credit card!"

Dawn laughs, and follows.

  
_FIN_.

  


***

*** Nominated at [Forbidden Awards](http://community.livejournal.com/forbiddenawards/), Round Eleven - BtVS: Best Gen.**

*** Nominated at [No Rest for the Wicked Awards](http://community.livejournal.com/wicked_awards/), Round Three - That Old Gang of Mine (Best Gen).**

***  


  
  
  
  
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**Author's Note:**

> Originally Archived [here](http://snowpuppies.livejournal.com/284760.html).
> 
> Beta'd by [Kitty Poker](http://kitty-poker1.livejournal.com/)


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